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Loyalty to New York Giants extends nationwide

Staff file photo by JAY CONNER

Ardent New York fans have sold out every Giants home game since 1975.

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By IRA KAUFMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2009

Updated: 09/25/2009 12:32 am

TAMPA - Although there won't be a blackout at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, you should expect a lot of blue.

From the upper deck to the lower corners, New York fans will be out in force to cheer on one of the league's original franchises as the 2-0 Giants take on the 0-2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In contrast to talk of blackouts and fan apathy across the NFL, Giants supporters stand as a breed apart.

"You have to understand, Giant fans have been around since like 1925," said Bucs running back Derrick Ward, who signed as a free agent in March after five years as a Giant. "It's all about tradition.

"I met a Giants fan a few years ago who said his family had one of the first season tickets ever at Yankee Stadium. They don't give up their seats, no matter what, and they love their Big Blue."

The Giants have been sold out since 1975, the year before Giants Stadium opened out of the former swamps of East Rutherford, N.J.

"Tradition, it's a wonderful thing," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "Giant fans have been so loyal for so many years, through the good and the bad, through all the great players that have played in the red, white and blue for all these years."

Bucs offensive line coach Pete Mangurian can still close his eyes and see images of Giant supporters, dating to his four years as a New York assistant under Dan Reeves in the mid-1990s.

"Generation after generation, the same people have the same tickets," Mangurian said. "I remember the fans that were in the front row at Giants Stadium, behind where our offensive linemen sat. They had been there forever, and their parents and grandparents had been there.

"They had seen the whole evolution of coaches and players and they would talk to you. I'd say something to a lineman and they'd shout out, 'That's right, Pete, get on 'em.' These people pass tickets on in their wills and fight over them in divorces."

Former Lightning executive VP Mel Lowell grew up in New York as a passionate Giants fan.

"I went to my first game when I was 7 and for 50 cents, I sat in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium," said Lowell, now living near Fort Lauderdale. "I've already turned my grandkids into Giants fans. They're hooked."

When the Giants arrived in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday evening for the regular-season debut of cavernous Cowboys Stadium, players couldn't help but notice thousands of New York jerseys in the crowd.

"There are Giants fan all over," said quarterback Eli Manning. "They will travel and we always seem to have a pretty good crowd of Giant fans wherever we go."

The Giants are moving into a new 82,500-seat facility next year in the Meadowlands, continuing to share a stadium with the Jets.

The $1.6 billion price tag prompted the introduction of lucrative personal seat license contracts, but Giant fans responded in style.

Only a few thousand of the more expensive seats remain available.

"Weather doesn't matter to these people," said Ward. "Snow, rain, ice storms ... they're going to be there and they're going to be wild and crazy. It's even tough for the players to get tickets. The most tickets I ever asked for at Giants Stadium was six - and I had to beg and plead."

Mangurian also spent four years in Atlanta as a Falcons assistant, giving him a fresh perspective on the inseparable bond between the Giants and their supporters.

"In Atlanta, you have a huge contingent of people that have moved there from other places," he said. "Giant fans have lived in that area all their lives. As coaches, these people would get to know you. You'd walk off the field and there would be the same guy standing over the entrance with his hard hat on and he's calling you by your first name. There's no doubt about it - those fans are unique."

Reporter Ira Kaufman can be reached at (813) 259-7833.

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